Blitzing New Zealanders' Rights!

"The 'traffic blitz' in Wellington was indeed a blitz - a blitz on the rights of New Zealand citizens," declared Libertarianz Law & Order spokesman Robert Palmer today.

"Of the thirteen thousand motorists stopped by police, only one third of a percent were found to be breaking the law," explains Palmer. "In a truly free country, the Police need to have reasonable cause to detain a citizen. In this case, nearly thirteen thousand New Zealanders had their rights trampled upon just so the Police could check that their actions were 'above board'."

"How soon will it be before New Zealanders find police offers detaining them on the street, in their gardens, or even in their bedrooms, just to make sure everything is 'above board'?"

Palmer concludes that Libertarianz would "reverse New Zealand's slide into a Police State by requiring a Police Officer to have a warrant in order to detain a citizen. "The Police would be able to stop a motorist if he's clearly breaking the law, e.g. if he's driving a stolen vehicle, or driving in such a manner as to endanger others - but for no other reason without a warrant.

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>